My happiness cannot be bought. What satisfies me is not the possession of the wanted object, but putting an end to the painfulness of desire. I remind myself of this when considering a purchase.
-201 Little Buddhist Reminders
A lot of information has been going around in these tough economical times about living with less. At first this repulsed me. What in the world do they mean? Living without the newest gadget, the most expensive piece of clothing, the biggest house? Why wouldn't you want those things, if you could afford it. Even if you couldn't afford it, that's why they invented credit cards, loans, etc. You'll eventually pay it off. But what does that matter when you can have it in your hands NOW.
If you think about it-that's what this culture is all about: now, now, N-O-W!
Do you remember back in the day when you wanted something, you had to save for it? Perhaps for weeks, months, even years. But you didn't buy it until you had saved every penny you could get your hands on. You worked hard to spend money. Then when you spent it, you made sure it was what you really wanted. That was way before impulse buying. At that time you didn't even know there was such a thing as impulse buying.
What about the urge to buy? Where did that come from? When did I care about having all this stuff? Do I really need that many clothes? That much furniture? The biggest movie collection of all time? The answer is really simple. No.
I think as a society we need to scale back. On many things, but spending and collecting in particular. And what better time than when all of us are forced to consider our wants and needs. Our savings and our debts.
Yes, I think it is time to go back to the simple life. Consider that money cannot buy us happiness, and that happiness is all about the simple things in life. Like spending time with family instead of spending money. Whether it's picking up the phone and calling a long lost friend, or taking the family out on a picnic lunch. Enjoying what life really has to offer.
We just finished cleaning out our closets and extra storage rooms this past week for a garage sale. It astonished me how much stuff had accumulated in boxes and bags in those tight places. Just filling up space, not doing us any favors. What a freeing feeling getting those things out, and getting rid of our excess.
The simple life is really just that....simple.
-201 Little Buddhist Reminders
A lot of information has been going around in these tough economical times about living with less. At first this repulsed me. What in the world do they mean? Living without the newest gadget, the most expensive piece of clothing, the biggest house? Why wouldn't you want those things, if you could afford it. Even if you couldn't afford it, that's why they invented credit cards, loans, etc. You'll eventually pay it off. But what does that matter when you can have it in your hands NOW.
If you think about it-that's what this culture is all about: now, now, N-O-W!
Do you remember back in the day when you wanted something, you had to save for it? Perhaps for weeks, months, even years. But you didn't buy it until you had saved every penny you could get your hands on. You worked hard to spend money. Then when you spent it, you made sure it was what you really wanted. That was way before impulse buying. At that time you didn't even know there was such a thing as impulse buying.
What about the urge to buy? Where did that come from? When did I care about having all this stuff? Do I really need that many clothes? That much furniture? The biggest movie collection of all time? The answer is really simple. No.
I think as a society we need to scale back. On many things, but spending and collecting in particular. And what better time than when all of us are forced to consider our wants and needs. Our savings and our debts.
Yes, I think it is time to go back to the simple life. Consider that money cannot buy us happiness, and that happiness is all about the simple things in life. Like spending time with family instead of spending money. Whether it's picking up the phone and calling a long lost friend, or taking the family out on a picnic lunch. Enjoying what life really has to offer.
We just finished cleaning out our closets and extra storage rooms this past week for a garage sale. It astonished me how much stuff had accumulated in boxes and bags in those tight places. Just filling up space, not doing us any favors. What a freeing feeling getting those things out, and getting rid of our excess.
The simple life is really just that....simple.
Love. It. I feel the same way and after reading all the minimalist blogs I could get my hands on, I'm so excited and am starting to get rid of even more stuff. I figured you'd like that too since you guys had started doing that anyway. I've gotta thank TJ again for sending that article. :)
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